A variety of orthopedic devices, including bone distractors, are known in the art for use in the gradual adjustment of bone segments on opposing sides of a fracture and/or osteotomy (cutting of a bone).
Bone distractors generally include transcutaneous pins and/or bone screws (hereinafter referred to generally as screws) secured to opposing bone segments on either side of a fracture/osteotomy together with a mechanism which spans over the fracture/osteotomy to permit controlled incremental adjustment of the distance and orientation of the bone segments with respect to one another. Moreover, distractors may be used to perform distraction osteogenesis (i.e., the formation of bone). Generally speaking, this procedure involves making an osteotomy to completely separate a targeted bone into two segments so that the bone segments on either side of the osteotomy may be gradually separated so that new bone may form in the osteotomy void. The distraction phase is often followed by a consolidation phase, during which the distractor is held fixed, and the new bone growth gains strength. Thereafter, optionally, the distractor may be removed from the patient.
One area in which bone distractors may be used is in the alveolar region of a patient's mandible and/or maxilla. For example, in response to tooth loss or other conditions of the jaw. A surgeon may wish to control and/or alter, for example, the vertical height of the alveolar region. This can be accomplished by cutting the mandible or maxilla to enable the bone segments on opposite sides of the cut to be distracted in a controlled manner through the utilization of a bone distractor that is appropriately secured thereto.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a bone distractor, specifically an alveolar ridge distractor, that is able to adjust the relative orientation and separation distance between engaged bone segments.